I bought a pair of those baggy overalls the young people are wearing. For me, they are at the very least, cool and comfortable.

They are not flattering.

They should be worn while working around the house. Not in public. (Not by me, anyway.)

However, I got it into my head that I wanted a row of flowers across the top of the bib.

It was not a difficult task, but it is a challenge to transfer a drawing onto a dark background. I don’t have the solution to this yet. For these, I just redrew the image I wanted directly onto the overalls using a blue wash-away pen.

Then I stitched it out.

I thought it was cute. But then the dark color of the hyacinth on the end was bothering me. It’s actually very true to what a hyacinth looks like. I have pics of them starting to bloom in my back yard.

But every time I walked past them, the dark color of that flower on the end bothered me more and more. I was not going to relax until I picked out every single one of those french knots and redid it.

Since I wanted to stay true to the color of a hyacinth, I went with peach. I have peach hyacinths in my front yard.

I am much happier with this result. The hyacinth looks a bit bright in this pic but that’s just the lighting. It now blends in with the others much more.

Tip:

I wanted to protect the stitching and the knots on the back so that when this gets machine-washed, nothing will fall apart.

I remembered a product that OESD carries called Gentle Touch. It is designed to iron onto the back of machine embroidery so that the stitches against your skin (or a child, or baby’s skin) will not irritate. It really is very soft, with fusible on one side.

I ironed it onto the back and now, not only does it not rub, but all the stitches are given an extra layer of protection when going through a washer and dryer. The front stays exactly the same, There’s just an added layer of protection on the back. I’m going to use it on the back of all my hand stitching.

It’s funny that there is a product for every single need. Of course, when I needed Gentle Touch, I did not have it in my vast stock of stabilizers. Here’s a link for you.

My next challenge is a patch on my husband’s grass-mowing pants. No pressure there. If my mending is a complete failure, who cares? (Trust me, not my husband.) So that leaves room for me to be a bit experimental.

Anyway, the season is starting to turn here in the Northern Hemisphere. We are prepping for a solar eclipse and an onslaught of cicadas. Nature is keeping us occupied this spring.

As my grandmother used to say, “Keep your hands busy!”

Hugs and stitches, and have a wonderful Spring.